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Catherine Durant
|residence = Washington, D.C. |education = Tulane University |affiliation = Democratic Party, Frank Underwood |profession = Secretary of State (2013–2017) U.S. Senator from Louisiana (at least 2003-2013) |marital = Married |actor = Jayne Atkinson |seasons = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |firstseenepisode = |lastseenepisode = |appearances = 5 Seasons, 10+ Episodes }}Catherine Durant was an American politician, most recently serving as the 68th United States Secretary of State. Prior to leading the State Department, she served as a United States Senator from Louisiana. Biography Durant was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Louisiana who had served in her position for some years as of 2013, with experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as an ally of House Majority Whip Frank Underwood. In Congress, she became a friend of Margaret Tilden, the owner of the Washington Herald. During the 2012 presidential election, she actively opposed then Colorado Governor Garrett Walker in the Democratic primaries. However, Walker would win the nomination and later, the Presidency. Season 1 Initially, President-elect Walker nominated Senator Michael Kern as Secretary of State, after deciding not to nominate Underwood, who had been promised the post. As a result, Underwood decided to enact revenge on Walker and devised a plot to take the Presidency for himself. The first stage of this involved derailing Kern's nomination as revenge, namely by having Congressman Peter Russo and his own Chief of Staff, Doug Stamper uncover damaging information about Kern. The information uncovered concerned Kern being the editor of a college newspaper that ran an editorial strongly condemning Israel. Underwood leaking this information to journalist Zoe Barnes who published it, and the resulting media storm forced Kern's nomination to be withdrawn. Due to Durant being a key ally of Underwood's from their time in Congress and as she agreed to his plan of replacing Walker, Underwood again leaked information to Barnes that Durant was being considered as the new nominee. The resulting positive media coverage resulted in Underwood being able to persuade White House Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez and the President that nominating Durant was the right course. As a result, Durant was nominated and confirmed as the new Secretary of State. Later on in 2013, Durant would be approached by Claire Underwood for State Department assistance in removing water tanks that Claire's foundation had trapped in Sudan. However, Durant was unable to provide any official assistance due to severing of diplomatic ties. Season 2 Durant would later meet with the newly sworn in Vice President Frank Underwood in December 2013 as they attended a meeting on China with Walker and Raymond Tusk, a billionaire technology magnate who served as Walker's adviser and guiding hand. Durant stated a need to confront the Chinese on cyber attacks, but was rebuffed in the meeting by the others, although Underwood later said he supported her but disagreed publicly to ensure Tusk could not gang up on them both. At Underwood's insistence, she ordered her diplomats to confront the Chinese on cyber attacks anyway, leading to sabotage of diplomatic talks and allowing Underwood room to manoeuvre his way into taking the talks over. In late 2014, when Walker was facing impeachment charges after illegal money laundering of political contributions was discovered on the part of Tusk and prominent Chinese diplomat and businessman Xander Feng, Durant was unsure of whether she could still support Underwood's play for President, however was persuaded to continue supporting him. She was later present as Walker announced his resignation and witnessed President Underwood's swearing in, along with advising him during his first meeting on China. Season 5 Cathy planned on testify in a special committee. Because her testimony would be damning to Frank, when she and Frank are discussing this while at the White House, Frank waits until they're away from the security camera's view to push her down the stairs. Season 6 Cathy met with now president Claire Underwood at the White House, where she told Claire about her new job offer. Claire became convinced that Cathy had been bought by the Shepherd Family and asked Jane Davis to kill her, and make it look like a complication of an injury from her fall. Cathy went to meet with Jane at a D.C. restaurant, where she realized what was happening, and retreated to her car, where she called and cursed Jane. Cathy later faked her own death with the help of her husband, and fled to the French Alps, where she was shot by an assassin hired by Claire. Behind the Scenes Appearances Category:Americans Category:Characters Category:Females Category:Recurring Characters Category:Residents of Washington D.C Category:United States Secretaries of State Category:Underwood administration personnel Category:Walker administration personnel Category:Main Characters Category:Deceased